


Taking the Blame

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 20:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20626757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "I’ll admit, this was partially inspired by the previous Doctor Who + spin-offs crossover, just a lot more serious.So… Anyone who’s seen Torchwood has seen the complete sadness that is Children of the Earth (Ianto… *sobs*), and, well… We all know perfectly well just how important children are to Guardians. Without them, they are nothing. After initial misunderstandings (and Captain Jack being his usual Harkness self, especially towards Bunny and Tooth), they team up to prevent the children being taken from them.Bonus points if:- the choice to sacrifice one instead of many isn’t made: with the Guardians, it’s all or nothing.- they save Ianto somehow because even after all these years I still have major FEELS, fuck Miracle Day.- Jack (Frost) is insanely jealous of Jack (Harkness) hitting on Bunny.- even Pitch helps, because he’s made of the same stuff the Guardians are."Things this fill doesn’t have: Jack Harkness, the first, second, or third bonuses.Things this fill does have: the last bonus and allusions to the Golden Age.





	Taking the Blame

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 12/19/2013.

When it starts, Pitch appears in Dreamland. He doesn’t attack, and Sandy doesn’t defend. They both know that their enmity isn’t important right now. Pitch lets his hands be bound with dreamsand before they go to meet with the other Guardians.  
  
Even then, the others are suspicious at first. How do they know Pitch isn’t involved with this? Bunny especially is wary, and Sandy explains things to him in old, old symbols—of those gathered there, only they and Pitch can interpret what he’s saying.   
  
You’ve seen what Pitch has become, Sandy explains. You know he couldn’t do anything like this anymore. You know he wouldn’t.  
  
Pitch wants to protest this last, but he can’t. It’s true. The spacefaring captain of the _Nightmare Galleon_ could and would, the Nightmare King could and would, but the Boogeyman would not. Surely he had realized this when he went unarmed into Dreamland at the first sign of a threat. He frowns and looks down. It’s not exactly a good time to make this discovery, with a new threat from the stars hanging over the world.  
  
“If you’re right, Sandy,” Bunny says slowly, “shouldn’t that mean something for more than just this time? And shouldn’t we be thinking more about why it happened?”  
  
“There’s no time,” Pitch says quietly. “After all this is over, then you can deal with me. But now, there is no time.”  
  
“Pitch is right,” says North. “And we cannot turn down his help. Talking with the children will not be enough for this. We will need to deal with many adults as well. And I think Pitch is probably feeling very familiar with many of the adults in the world right now.”  
  
“You think right,” Pitch says, and only now do the other Guardians begin to notice the feverish gleam in his eyes, the pallor that’s crept across his face, and the way he sways slightly as he stands, the dreamsand bonds on his wrists sometimes providing necessary support. “They’re all very…_very_…afraid right now. They’re probably going to act on their fears. It’s…too much.”  
  
Sandy soothingly rubs his hand across Pitch’s shoulders. The others choose not to comment.  
  
“Toothiana?” North says. “I think we will need memories now. We will need empathy.”  
  
Tooth nods. This at least can be done indirectly for the adults. There’s bound to be something in their memories that will keep them from making that bargain, something that will give them the courage to fight when they don’t.  
  


* * *

  
  
In the end, none of them can say they didn’t do their best. In the end, their best was just that little, least, bit not good enough. Pitch had been thinking that was going to be the case. He wonders if Sandy knew it too, since only they two are there for the failure, the others having been sent away to deal with other matters.  
  
There’s no other way, Sandy tells him, amid the chaos.  
  
“So now what? We do nothing?” Pitch yells.   
  
Sandy shakes his head. The boy needs just enough lack of fear to stand still instead of run.  
  
“No,” Pitch says. “And what are you here to do, then? Here to make sure I take away the fear when he needs it? To make sure I take the blame?”  
  
Sandy shakes his head again. I’m here to make sure you don’t take the blame. I’m here to give you an order, Pitch. So I can take the blame. As your commanding officer. You remember how things work in war, don’t you?  
  
“Yes.” Pitch clenches his fists. “I remember.”  
  
Sandy gives the order.

**Author's Note:**

> Tags from Tumblr:
> 
> #soooo not a fix-it


End file.
